The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of ₹3 lakh each on stand up comic and YouTuber Samay Raina and four others for violating court orders in the case connected to insensitive remarks made on their show about persons with disabilities.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued the order after being informed that, despite a previous directive, Raina had failed to invite any persons with disabilities to his show.
The Court was considering a petition filed by the Cure SMA India Foundation, which accused Raina of making insensitive comments about the high cost of treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Raina is also alleged to have mocked an individual with this disability. The petition sought regulations governing the broadcast of such online content, arguing that it violates the right to life and dignity of persons with disabilities.
In November 2025, Raina and other comedians were directed by the Court to organise at least two events a month to raised funds for the corpus setup for the treatment of persons with disability.
They were also directed to persuade specially-abled persons to join them in their programs.
During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the petitioner organisation, told the court that Raina had never approached them to be part of any of his shows, and that the affidavit they filed claims they were unable to get in touch with me.
We now feel it is inappropriate to request his performance. He has reportedly held shows involving people with disabilities at certain venues and has already conducted such events.
“I don’t know what kind of youth icon he is. People like Samay Raina are apparently youth icons. I shudder to think so,” she said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta remarked, “Our youth has better icons.” “Recently, he (Raina) started a new show where he mocked the system without naming anyone. He said at the beginning, I am doing something which I didn’t do in the last series.
Emphasizing the necessity for a robust law to safeguard the dignity of persons with disabilities, the Supreme Court urged the Centre to consider enacting legislation that would criminalize derogatory or mocking remarks about individuals with disabilities and rare genetic disorders, similar to provisions under the SC-ST Act.
Advising them to exercise greater caution in their future conduct, the bench further instructed comedians Raina and the others to organise two programmes or shows each month highlighting the success stories of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), in order to raise funds for the treatment of disabled individuals, particularly those affected by SMA.
